Both departments play a central role in setting the Obama administration's environmental policies. The Department of Agriculture regulates a host of issues, from organic labeling to pesticides to biofuels, that are dear to greens.

"Governor Vilsack can play an important role in helping to bring about the clean energy economy in a way that benefits both farmers and rural communities and our environment. The USDA can take the lead in moving us past the corn-based ethanol of today toward the next-generation biofuels of tomorrow. These next-generation biofuels will not just provide farmers with new sources of income and help us break our dangerous dependence on oil, but they will also help President-Elect Obama achieve his ambitious plans to tackle global warming."

"Americans were promised ‘change,’ not just another shill for Monsanto and corporate agribusiness. Considering the challenges we collectively face as a nation, from climate change and rising energy costs to food insecurity, we need an administration that moves beyond ‘business as usual’ to fundamental change—before it’s too late.”

"Ken Salazar is an outstanding choice for Secretary of the Interior. In the thirty years I have known Ken I have witnessed his deep respect for the land and water resources of our country. He understands very clearly the challenges facing us in the use and protection of our public lands. He will be an excellent leader of the agency."

“Sen. Ken Salazar has been a champion for America’s public lands. He’s fought to protect Western lands from costly, destructive oil shale production. He also took on the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management over oil and gas leasing on the Roan Plateau in northwest Colorado. And as a former water rights and mining lawyer and former director of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources, Sen. Salazar brings an experienced perspective to needed mining reform."

"The Department of the Interior desperately needs a strong, forward looking, reform-minded Secretary," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity. "Unfortunately, Ken Salazar is not that man. He endorsed George Bush's selection of Gale Norton as Secretary of Interior, the very woman who initiated and encouraged the scandals that have rocked the Department of the Interior. Virtually all of the misdeeds described in yesterday's Inspector General expose occurred during the tenure of the person Ken Salazar advocated for the position he is now seeking."

The group notes that the Colorado senator voted against increased fuel efficiency standards, offshore drilling restrictions along Florida's coast, the repeal of tax breaks for Exxon-Mobil, and has fought efforts to increase protection for endangered species and the environment in the 2008 Farm Bill.